Ahed’s Knee

<img src="https://data.ajff.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/web_embed_Laurel_JuryInCompetition_02.png" style="max-width: 20%; width: 20%; border-width: 0px; margin-left: 10px; float: right;" />In writer-director Nadav Lapid’s searing, self-reflective indictment of Israeli culture and national conscience, a filmmaker confronts inner demons and censorship during an arid desert outing. While casting a new project, a famous but increasingly disillusioned director, “Y,” (Lapid’s alter ego) is invited to screen his latest film in a remote town. Already agonized by his mother’s illness, his frustration mounts when a well-meaning but conflicted bureaucrat (Nur Fibak) tries to stifle his free speech. The clash spirals into rage against government hypocrisy and oppression. Anchored by Avshalom Pollak’s fiercely physical performance, this Cannes Jury Prize winner—nominated for 8 Israeli Academy Awards—is boldly told with furious energy and caustic wit.